One way to notice the kind of difficulty both games have is looking at how most of the deaths in Demon's Souls are caused by the player not being careful enough, while in Dark Souls the game practically since the very beginning is trying to kill the player by brute force along with random events that not much people can see coming (at first).

I'll definitely still be getting it, but I don't like the sound of invasions happening even while you're hollow. I died so many times to O&S, and it became infuriating trying to get help there when the same couple of people would kill me repeatedly before I could even reach the summon signs.

Yeah many players (myself included) are gonna struggle with that. I'm not fond of the PvP aspect of these games but I do get the overall idea and intention behind the concept.

It looks like Dark Souls II is aiming for Hardcore mode. Some people are claiming that it will be too cheap, like the NES days,lol. I hope I'm picked for the beta.

Well the game doesn't have any kind of choice for the difficulty. But if it had one I don't see many fans being happy about fucking around with the core experience this series is known for and many are waiting for...

That's why I said I've never been fond of the PvP aspect of these games. Despite of the idea of invading other players is interesting, it really only encourage players to be dicks in a game that is already difficult by design.

That's been my experience with it too, and by the time I did finally fight off an invader I was so over-leveled that it didn't feel like much of a triumph. I really liked the other online components though, it just wouldn't be the same without the messages and when it worked, co-op (connectivity was terrible on the PC version, I was invaded more than enough but co-op was mostly a lot of "summoning failed").

I always did the PvP thing in Demon's Souls, but for Dark Souls, I only participated in it a few times, because of the constant lag. I'm going to play online to see how hectic it can get, but I might be switching to offline mode to enjoy the story at my own pace and not have to worry about interruptions; I'm sure there will be some drawbacks to going this route, but we'll just see what happens in the future.

The only time I did PvP was in specific arenas/fight clubs with people you know. Usually one guy hosts it somewhere random (Depths, for example, or the hidden ledge in Sen's) so random people don't just invade. Then you put down your red soap sign and get invited by said host.

Eh, not me. I prefer the lore of Dark Souls over the lore of Demon's Souls.

I felt Demon's Souls was a tighter game. Which actually really surprises me, because normally I adore open world. But, somehow,the level design of Demon's Souls just worked better for me. I also felt Dark Souls was a little cheaper than Demon's, but that might just be me.

There still could be a Demon's Souls II, at some point. Although, I really hope FromSoftware returns to King's Field/Shadow Tower or maybe a new Evergrace or Eternal Ring. I just love those games, even though they sold terribly.

Just finished for the night. Here is a small review (it's not a professional review, just what I wrote down on the top of my head).

Review for Dark Souls II Beta - Phase 1: So far, the animation is more fluid/solid. I managed to defeat the Skeleton Lord (Really cool fight that was easy, unfortunately). I wanted to check out the Dual Swordsman, as I'm sure that class will add some some sort of difficulty. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros:

*It seems more difficult than Dark Souls and maybe even Demon's Souls. There are more adds in fights, this time, which can make for a tense fight.

*I love the backstab animation. Truly makes you feel like a badass,lol.

*The gameplay has been silky smooth. It's not slow like in Dark Souls; I really love the grass effect and the different parts of your armor moving from the wind blowing.

*The menu interface looks easier to navigate.

*Probably one of the most obvious changes: Graphics. They are more polished. It's going to be another creepy, atmospheric game

*The monsters look absolutely amazing. Pinwheels are back and fun as ever to fight. The two bosses I encountered were fun, but easy

Cons:

*The lag was horrible when I was invaded and vice versa. I would get attacked from the invader and he was across the screen from me. I'll be making my reports to the forums very soon about this (this is obvious, hence it being a beta, so no big deal here).

*Sometimes when trying to summon a Phantom, it would fail to initialize (this happens about 35% of the time).

That's about it, for now. I do have some photos to show (granted, they're iPhone photos and I was using one hand for some, so the quality might be horrible). So far, I'm loving Dark Souls II and people that were worried about the game being easier or the story being "given to you on a plate", don't worry no more. This is Demon's/Dark Souls, through and through. Looks like this is going to be my GotY 2014.